SOLAR TODAY - March 2010

view from the states
Strong Wind, Weak Policy in Indiana
Utility-scale wind booms in the Hoosier state, and PV grows despite weak state policies.

By ERIC COTTOn

Eric Cotton (eric@eci windandsolar.com) is a partner with ECIWind and Solar (eciwind andsolar.com) in Fairmount, Ind. He serves as a founding member and vice president of the Indiana Renewable Energy Association. He is a Ph.d. candidate in physical chemistry at Purdue University.

In a very short time, Indiana has gone from relative obscurity to one of the brightest spots in the nation for new wind development. Indiana’s wind corridors are ample, with 40 gigawatts (GW) of potential, and have very good access to transmission lines. Thus, despite the absence of substantial renewable energy policy at the state level, the industry has brought nearly 1 GW of wind capacity online in just the past five years, with 5 GW on the books.

The state has received millions in stimulus funding. Other states have spent stimulus funding on a variety of projects, but Indiana has suffered massive losses in the RV, automotive, steel and other heavy manufacturing industries, so the state has chosen to funnel most of its stimulus money to factories.

The state administration has generally overlooked distributed generation, and the legislature can’t agree on an energy policy. The result is that distributed generation in Indiana is limited to a handful of early adopters, mostly rural homes and some grant recipients. Several factors have limited distributed generation development in Indiana, but there are some bright spots here as well.

As recently as 2004, renewable energy policy in Indiana was on par with the rest of the Midwest. With a new, albeit weak, net-metering policy (the same one in effect today), the few distributed generation companies in the state saw some potential for growth. From a small-business perspective, the market was wide open, and Hoosiers were starting to talk about progressive policies such as a renewable portfolio standard (RPS). Despite the Bush administration’s claim that the science of climate change was still not clear on the cause of global warming, more Americans began to adopt environmentally friendly practices. Businesses began selling to an emerging green-conscious consumer market. In 2005, Midwestern states began to adopt more aggressive renewable energy policies. But while our neighbors in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky embraced new energy policies and cleaner air for their citizens, Indiana wound up hanging with its coal lobby chums.

Wisconsin enacted an RPS calling for 10 percent by 2015. Ohio and Illinois each require 25 percent by 2025 with a solar set-aside. In 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the Indiana State Senate passed a weak RPS that included both nuclear power and clean coal technologies as eligible renewables — and the definition of clean coal didn’t even

Copyright © 2010 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved. call for carbon sequestration. Renewable energy advocates and progressive legislators rejected the policy as absurd. In 2009, an RPS passed both the Indiana House and the Senate but died in the conference committee.

Now, all of Indiana’s neighboring states have improved their net-metering laws. In 2009, Indiana legislators introduced at least three different net-metering bills, but they all died in committee. According to the Network of New Now the good news. The small businesses were right back in 2004 when they forecast growth. Since then, there has been an explosion of new business in distributed energy services. Today, one can find a renewable energy expert in nearly every population center, and there are at least three full-service distributors of renewable energy products in the state. Indiana had just one North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners-certified photovoltaic installer in 2005. That number had grown to seven by the close of 2009. Installations have grown from a few dozen kilowatts (k W) to about 250 k W at the end of 2008, and roughly 100 k W came online in 2009.

Both Duke Energy ( duke-energy.com) and Tipmont Rural Electric Membership Corp. ( tipmont.org) have voluntarily launched distributed energy programs in excess of their statutory requirements. Their leadership has helped dozens of customers install new systems.

Advocates recently organized the Indiana Renewable Energy Association ( indianarenew.org) and affiliated as an American Solar Energy Society chapter. The association brings together more than 50 renewable energy businesses (including four utilities) and more than 40 individual members to advocate for renewable energy education. As Hoosiers start to place more value on a clean environment, renewable energy in Indiana will continue to thrive. Being at the bottom of the policy curve only means we have fabulous potential for improvement. ST